The Secret Place
He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High will abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Psalm 91:1
Secret place. There is a place set aside for you to meet with the Most High. It is tucked away, hidden from prying eyes and sneering faces. You first found it when you cried out alone to Him on your bed or stared wonderingly about Him into the starry night sky. Wherever you were, at whatever age you started this quest, you stumbled into the Secret Place of the Most High.
That time in the secret place may be but a memory of a different time in your life when you dared to venture into the Unknown called God. But the One of the Secret Place is ever present, ever anticipating, ever ready for a visit from you.
The Psalmist tells us that there are those who have actually made the Secret Place their home. They are no better than you; they merely found their way back to that spot so frequently that sooner or later they made it their address.
The One who provides you this Secret Place also offers the gift of faith necessary to dwell there permanently with Him. It is yours for the asking…but remember: He designed the Secret Place; you did not. You merely found your way there…and not without His help.
Once you make Him your home, the awkwardness of considering Him first in all areas of your life starts to fade away, and the adventure begins.
When you live in your physical home, storms may roar or blizzards may blow, but your roof and your walls keep you safe, dry and warm. When you make the Most High your dwelling place, you are under His roof, safe behind His walls…whether you are inside or out; soaring at cruise altitude through the sky or diving far beneath the waves; in the middle of a crowd or in an abandoned outpost at the remotest part of the earth…you are under His shadow. He is there, watching over you, listening for your call, ready to move on your behalf…because you are His. You have made Him your home.
Lord Jesus, Thank You for preparing the Secret Place for us. I receive You as my Home.
Dorothy
© Dorothy Frick, 2021
Read MoreWhat Esther can teach the Church
I’m reading through the book of Esther today. When I landed on chapter 4, I was amazed at its parallel to our time.
A decree had been issued (chapter 3) throughout Susa and the entire kingdom of King Ahasuerus (which stretched from India to Ethiopia, over 127 provinces according to chapter 1…think Afghanistan smack dab in the middle) to slaughter all Jews in one day and to seize their possessions as plunder. This decree was the brainchild of Haman, who had a personal grudge against Esther’s cousin Mordecai.
You see, Mordecai had refused to bow the knee to Mr. Haman…and that was a blow to Haman’s overinflated ego; and he concocted a plan to get the king to sign off on the mass genocide of Jews. Whenever genocide of any race, religion, or ethnicity is on the table, you better believe petty, unresolved EGO, JEALOUSY, and SIN are at the root of it all.
Chapter 4 opens with Mordecai discovering the diabolical plot of Haman, and his response is very eye-opening. Did he hide away, in the terror of alarm? Did he seek to flee to a distant land? NO. He tore his clothes and threw on sackcloth, the garb of public mourners, and went directly to the open square and to the palace gates, wailing loudly and bitterly.
Many of us do exactly that when we speak of grievances to others and post them publicly on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. We share videos and articles. We attend various meetings, rallies, and write to our Congress people. And, I believe, we are getting bolder in so doing.
But when Queen Esther found out that Mordecai was making a scene, she was OFFENDED. How do I know that? She sent a clean, respectable set of clothes for him to change into immediately. He refused.
At this point in the chapter, the question arose within me concerning our present state of affairs: In YOUR quest to make the truth of our current situation known, have you run into mockery? Scorn? Censorship? Even among your brothers and sisters in the Body of Christ or members of your own family? Are they DEMANDING you to squelch your growing concern? Does it make them uneasy? Angry? Esther was very uncomfortable with Mordecai’s open display of grievance.
Did her discomfort sway him? Absolutely not. He rejected his dearest relative’s offer to change into the clothing of status quo, and he was resolute in his refusal.
Verse 4 reveals that Esther writhed in agony at his rebuff of her “sound” offer. Perhaps your dearest friends don’t understand you; they worry about you; they have backed away from you. Perhaps they’ve INCREASED their pressure to get you to conform. Whatever may be your situation, you have become a pariah.
Fortunately, however, Esther was willing to research and step out of her comfort zone to learn an inconvenient truth. She sent to Mordecai to discover why he was so upset.
Then things got VERY interesting; from Mordecai she received the news that Haman had placed all Jews under a “seek and destroy” decree throughout the kingdom. ALL Jews. HER people. Mordecai sent her a copy of the very document that detailed the upcoming slaughter. Did Esther scream, “FAKE NEWS”?
No. Esther became red pilled.
Once YOU are red pilled to any agenda of harm, you need to act accordingly. God has given each of us varying gifts and talents, passions and pursuits in which He beckons us to act. You need to go before Him to hear Him for yourself. No one else can do that for you. Hear Him; and then DO what He says.
Esther, being the king’s wife, had a peculiar role to fulfill in this whole red pill experience. In those days, in the Medo/Persian area of the Middle East, women—including beloved wives—had little to no leverage, even in approaching their husbands.
But Esther knew she could not remain in the shadow of opulent anonymity; she had to approach the king despite the potential loss of her life. She had not seen her husband in thirty days; she probably wondered if he had decided she wasn’t quite what he wanted…maybe a new young thing had already caught his eye…
She risked enraging him, and then—death.
But now red pilled, Esther mustered all her courage; called for a three day fast; and declared that after the fast “I will go into the king, which is not according to the law, and if I perish, I perish” (verse 16).
Perhaps God in His wisdom is directing YOU to speak up and stand out contrary to our current cultural convention. He will make it clear to you as you seek Him…and then, like a godly soul from New Testament times declared when confronted accusingly by his culture, you can also say, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard ” (Acts 4:19-20).
May the blessing of boldness be on you this hour,
Dorothy
© Dorothy Frick, 2021
Read MoreFreedom of speaking
…do not throw away your CONFIDENCE… Hebrews 10:35
CONFIDENCE here is the Greek word parresia, which means FREEDOM OF SPEAKING.
So, here is Hebrews 10:35 in its entirety using this definition:
Therefore, do not throw away your FREEDOM OF SPEAKING, which has a great reward.
In other words, you are not required to submit to the rules imposed upon you by those who do not fear God. You know—rules such as don’t talk about this; don’t refute that; never oppose culturally-held, unscriptural beliefs openly or publicly.
God’s Word gives you a different directive: Hold fast to your confidence. You have as much right to speak as anyone else. Speak Life. Speak Truth. Speak the unadulterated counsel of God.
Dorothy
© 2020, Dorothy Frick
Read MorePsalm 91:4 Faithful to cover
He shall cover
you with His feathers,
And under His wings you shall
take refuge;
His faithfulness shall be
your shield and buckler.
When you picture feathers or wings, do you typically think of military shields? That’s not my customary train of thought, but this unusual pairing reveals how intensely protective God feels about you. His heart brims with the desire to cover you when danger lurks and to be your shield against incoming attacks.
He shall cover
you with His feathers,
And under His wings you shall
take refuge…
The Creator has always had a bird’s eye view of the animal kingdom, and He chose—out of all His creatures—to liken Himself to an eagle when revealing His protective nature toward His people.
In the Song of Moses, it says of God’s relationship to Jacob, “…He encircled him, He cared for him, He guarded him as the pupil of His eye. Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that hovers over its young, He spread His wings and caught them, He carried them on His pinions” (Deuteronomy 32:10-11).
David also use this same imagery in five of his Psalms. In Psalm 57, you can hear his anguished devotion when he cries out, “Be gracious to me, O God, be gracious to me, for my soul takes refuge in You; and in the shadow of Your wings I will take refuge until destruction passes by (verse 1). I love this! In the hour of greatest desperation, you, like David, have the right to hunker down under the shadow of God’s wings until destruction passes you by.
Not only did God’s people the Jews have access to the powerful shelter of God’s wings, but the Moabite Ruth also found refuge under His protective wings as well. Boaz spoke highly of Ruth’s deep devotion to and care for her mother-in-law Naomi when he said, “May the Lord reward your work, and your wages be full from the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to seek refuge” (Ruth 2:12).
David, Moses, and Ruth each found refuge under the majestic wings of the Lord. The Almighty God is still ready and willing to cover anyone who seeks His help; He will never tire of protecting you.
…His faithfulness shall be your shield and buckler.
When I come to this section in prayer, I am reminded of another shield—the mighty shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one (Ephesians 6:16). But how many times—instead of believing your faith could quench every incoming missile—you’ve felt absolutely worthless? The enemy works overtime to make you feel like a complete faith-failure.
I felt like that more times than I could count…until this verse came alive to me. You see, God’s faithfulness itself is your shield! You don’t have to have monster faith; your God has enough faithfulness for the two of you! Just put your faith into His faithfulness, and when you feel weak, your trust is no longer in your own ability to be some kind of faith giant; your trust is in God!
And when it comes to God’s protective care over you? Place your trust fully in His faithfulness to do what it takes to keep you safe.
One night as a thirty-something woman, I had been passing out gospel tracts on the St. Louis Arch grounds with a group from my church. Because I was somewhat “seasoned” at this sort of thing, an inexperienced young couple were paired with me. Toward the end of the evening I was sharing Jesus with a young woman. The couple got bored and wandered off to find the rest of the group. I didn’t care because she was very interested in giving her life to Christ.
Soon, her eyes popped open as big as silver dollars, and she scrambled away. I turned and immediately was surrounded by a group of six to eight men. As they closed in around me, the oddest thing happened. I had a vision!
No longer was I standing near the top of the south stairway of the Arch; I was at a Charles Capps meeting at my church! There Brother Capps stood, preaching with his Arkansas twang, “My brother, sister, Jesus SAID ‘Let us GO to the other side of the lake’; and if Jesus SAID ‘Let us GO to the other side of the lake’, then no wave, no wind, no storm could stop Him!”
And with that, there I was, back at the Arch, surrounded by the same six to eight men. I looked across the way and saw the old Riverboat McDonald’s. I SAID to the men, “I am GOING to McDonald’s!”
I walked right through that circle; no one touched me. As I descended the long stairway, the Holy Spirit spoke clearly, “Walk. Don’t run. Hold your head high, and don’t look back.”
There were whistles and catcalls as I fearlessly walked across Leonor K. Sullivan Blvd. to the gangplank leading to McDonald’s. Down the gangplank I marched, opened the door to the Golden Arches and saw my whole team—including the young couple. In an instant it dawned on me what God had just shielded me from. My knees became Jello, and I wobbled to the counter to order a bag of fries and a Coke.
God’s faithfulness was my shield and buckler that night; and the good news is that He will always be the same, yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8).
Put your faith in the faithfulness of the Lord and take refuge under His all-encompassing wings!
Dorothy
© 2020, Dorothy Frick
Read MorePsalm 91: Security in God’s protection
Are you feeling a little shaky right now with all the uncertainty of our culture pressing in on you from all sides? Covid-19 shut downs, positive tests, quarantines, isolation, masks, racial disparities and the ensuing unrest and violence, anger on social media, crazy weather and horrific fires, clashing political conventions, passions, and fears, tensions at home, at work, among friends…even while shopping, gassing up the car, or hanging at the park?
I have found some solace in all of this, a refuge from oppression and intimidation. It’s in the Bible—Psalm 91—and the entire chapter focuses on one thing: God is willing and ready to protect you—yes, YOU—in all kinds of danger.
I’ll let you in on a secret. I keep a pile of laminated Psalm 91 index cards handy so I can grab one and go. I have them in my car, my purse, I take them on trips, but mostly I carry one in my hand when I go for a walk. I have fresh Psalm 91s, used Psalm 91s, and raggedy Psalm 91s. I like the raggedy ones the best. They have a good feel to them.
Several years ago, maybe in 2015 or so, I sensed the Lord telling me to pray Psalm 91 a thousand times. When I shared this with someone, they said, “OK. Pray it three times a day and you can be finished in a year.”
That’s not how I approach things. When I try to race through Bible reading just to say I’ve done it, I honestly don’t retain much. I like to squeeze the juice out of what I’m reading; I like to interact with what I’m reading; and I like to tear into it.
It’s kind of like when I went to Grenada on a mission trip back in the ‘80s. Kim, a Canadian full-time missionary there, picked up the local way of eating chicken. She ate each piece with great gusto, but unlike me—who when once the meat was pretty well picked off the bone, I’d set it down and reach for a fresh one—she would gnaw and chew every last tidbit of meat and gristle off that bone. Then, without hesitation, she would crack that bone and go after the marrow! She’d worked that chicken bone until there was nothing left but splinters!
That’s how I’m happiest with my Bible time. If I go for reading large amounts, I know I’ll miss out on so much. I go for the meat, the morsels, the tidbits, the gristle, and then crack that Bible “bone” to go in after the marrow. I may not cover the whole Bible in a year, but I sure get as much out of what I do read as I can.
Anyway, I’m somewhere in the four-hundreds in praying this Psalm. As you can see, I don’t do this every day, and sometimes I forget to tally when I do pray it, but nonetheless, Psalm 91 has become a dear friend to me.
As I walk my neighborhood and pray this Psalm, I often like to emphasize one word at a time in a verse. For example, take the shortest verse in the Bible, “Jesus wept.” Here’s how my “emphasis method” would go:
- “JESUS wept.” I’d ponder the fact that JESUS HIMSELF did the weeping. I would think about how the Lord HIMSELF had such deep, human emotions, and because of that, He has no problem understanding my sorrow or anguish.
- “Jesus WEPT.” Now I would consider the fact that He actually WEPT. I’d think about salty tears falling down His face, and I’d be pulled into His moment, His feelings, His sorrow. I would find myself wanting to comfort Him.
As I walk and pray Psalm 91, I am frequently surprised by new ways of thinking about one verse or another. Of course, there are also times when I realize I haven’t listened to anything I’ve just prayed. When this happens, I simply start again where I first trailed off in my mind.
I’ve been sensing a leading by the Holy Spirit for a few months to start blogging about the amazing protective provisions God has revealed in this Psalm. I just need the boost to get started…and telling YOU I plan to do this should light the fire I need to get this meal cooking.
Please pray for me! I am asking for Holy Ghost get-up-and-go to grip and propel me so I can fulfill this task which I know He’s given me.
Thanks!
Dorothy
© 2020, Dorothy Frick
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